Louis Vuitton is suing carmaker Huyndai for using its trademarked logo without permission in an ad it ran during the Super Bowl. The logo appears briefly on a basketball.
In a trademark infringement suit filed in Manhattan Federal Court, Louis Vuitton described its logo as "famous and incontestable."
The lawyers argued that Hyundai could have gotten its point across without using the posh pattern -- a registered trademark since 1932.
It was the only logo used in the ads. The other scenes featured cops eating caviar, a yacht parked between modest homes, blue-collar workers lunching on lobster and a Hyundai driving under street lights transformed into chandeliers.
If you look closely at the photo, you'll see that the basketball is not actually covered with the real Louis Vuitton logo -- that's the fake, Canal street version which has an "LZ" instead of an "LV." The other graphic elements are also incorrect, although you can't see that in the film version because it is onscreen for so little time. It is quite clear that Huyndai meant for consumers to think it was a real Louis Vuitton logo. This was Huyndai's (or the ad firm's) way of trying to get around having to ask Louis Vuitton for permission to use its logo (which certainly would have been denied).
So, to sum up: Huyndai used a fake Louis Vuitton logo to deliberately confuse viewers into thinking it was seeing a real Louis Vuitton logo. Besides being really tacky, it also constitutes the intentional use of someone else's trademark (okay, the perception of its trademark) to create confusion in the marketplace and make a profit. Should be an interesting case.
